St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-23
THE IRISH QUESTION.
Some lnkling OF the Policy the
British Government Intends to

LONDON, March o. William Henry
Smith. the government leader, arose amid
cheers and counter cheers in the house of
commons this evening and moved that the
bill for the amendment of the criminal law
inIreiand have precedence over all orders of
the day. He said Ireland was in state OF
disorganization, and the government was
bound to act under q sense of public duty,
particularly when they found juries in that
country intmidated, and notorious GRIM
inals, whose deeds are inlmical to the exist
ence Of society, getting OFF scot free. Mr.
Smith said he would refrain from stating
the details of the measure, leaving that for
the chief secretary for Ireland. What he
now urged was that the measure
was absolutely necessary for the
security and happiness of the law
abiding population of Ireland. Referring
to the proposed amendment. offered last
night by John Morley, rejecting the declar-
alton of urgency for the government bill.
Mr. Smith reminded the house how Mr.
Gladstone resisted the adoption of sim
liar amendment i'll 1881. Regarding their
ameliorative policy towards Ireland. the
speaker said the governments land bill
would be divided into two parts. One Of
those would be introduced Immediately:
the other would be land purchase bill of
wide scope. Both measures would be
found to be framed on the principles OF
honesty and justice. The speaker, how
ever, thought the government could not
hope that any measure framed on these
lines would satisfy the Irish National
league, which, he said, was the successor
of the land league, and was
THE CAUSE
of all the dsorganization and terrorism per-
vading Ireland. Mr.. Smith said he hoped
the house would speedily adopt the govern
ment's measures. If the house did not
adopt them, the government would be COM
PEELED to ask the opinion of the country
to either confirm their policy or relieve
them of the responsibilities OF government.
Cheers. John Morley, in moving the
rejection of the motion for urgency, denied
absolutely Mr.. Smiths assertions as to the
lawless condition of Ireland and demanded
that the government give comparative
statistics of crime in Ireland, which he
said would show that beyond certain very
narrow area the country has seldom been
uueter. The governments proposed re.
strictive legislation would only aggra-
vate such evil as existed, and would
weaken and spoil whatever remedies
they had in store. The land commission
had declared that the cause OF the combina-
tion among the people was the inability of
the tenants to pay excessive rents. 1t had
been shown that Irish landlords combined
habits of extravaganza i'll emulation of the
richer landlords OF England with a system
| of rack-rent. NOmatter how hard the ten
ants might strive to meet their rents, this
wretched landlord system crushed them.
The coercion proposals OF the government
appeared to be based upon the idea that the
people of Ireland were indolent and dis
honest. But those who knew them had a
different conception of their character.
They believed them to be honest, hard
working and truthful. He could only re-
gard the bill as measure designed to en-
able landlords to exact
EX ORBITANT RENTS,
throwing the law on the side of the rich,
| removing all coercive or protective power
which tenants derived from combining and
putting coercion upon the unfortunate ten
ants. He was less anxious to secure rents
for some hard landlords than to secure just
treatment for these good and honest work.
ing people. Cheers. Some landlords
practced plan Of campaign OF their own
more immoral and more deserving OF being
called swindle than was the plan Of the
lcildlllS. oOilo lallu dSchto astcuiptcu W
| coerce the tenants into buying
under the Ashburne act. debating
the terms of purchase and threaten
ing to evct unless the tenant consented.
The government demand urgency for bill
giving men power to force tenants to pay
unreasonable rent or to purchase at an un.
reasonable price Behind this bill lay a
proposal that the British taxpayer be Sc
curity if the coercion of tenants failed to
satisfy the landlords. 1t was Irish history
over again-noral wrongs pressing upon
suffering people without legal remedy;
then illegal acts to secure something like